A New World (1)

In the year 186 AD, during the third year of the Zhongping era, in the eleventh month.

A dim, grimy room where even a single ray of light struggled to enter. A powerfully built man lay huddled beneath a thin blanket, curled up tightly to fend off the bone-chilling cold as he tried to sleep.

Even in the darkness, the man’s striking features and solid, muscular frame were unmistakable—handsome enough to draw intense interest from countless women around him.

Crackle! Crackle! Craaaackle!!!

A sudden sound like surging electricity.

Whoosh!

The blanket he had wrapped around himself flew open. The man, who had been sleeping in a crouched position, began flickering in and out of sight like a malfunctioning television screen.

Some time passed before the countless messages that had filled the air finally vanished completely.

Seo Jun slowly opened his previously closed eyes and looked around. The first thing he saw was a shabby, mold-covered wooden ceiling—one he had never laid eyes on before.

“Haha! Did it really work?”

“Huh~”

“Huh~?”

“Huh!!!”

“What the hell is this? Where am I? This isn’t where I’m supposed to be!!!”

Seo Jun shot upright in a panic, his face filled with shock.

The memories of the original entity began fusing with his own, settling into place. Through those memories, he realized this was not the destination he had intended when he crossed dimensions.

This place was—

“No way!! The late Han dynasty?!”

A world he had only ever imagined while lying on the floor of his old room, playing games and reading novels. An era filled with tales of countless heroes that had once made him wonder, What if it were me?

A life reduced to repetitive battles and slaughter, all turned into routine. He had grown sick of it. That was why Seo Jun had secretly deceived the dimensional administrators and used the spacetime stone.

Yet instead of the time period he had carefully set, he had been sent to the Three Kingdoms era—where war was an everyday occurrence.

“Haa~ This is driving me insane!!”

Seo Jun spat out a string of rough curses to ease the frustration boiling inside him.

“Haa~ Swearing won’t change anything. I need to get a clear grasp of the current situation.”

With the resigned acceptance that he couldn’t change what had already happened, and the calm he had cultivated during his days as a space mercenary, Seo Jun managed to settle his turbulent emotions. He sat back down cross-legged.

“Let’s see… The Yellow Turban Rebellion already happened not long ago, and the Zhang Jiao brothers have been suppressed. The Ten Attendants and He Jin are still alive…”

“And the region I’m in right now is Shuofang, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at the northernmost edge of Bingzhou. What the actual fuck? This is the middle of nowhere!!”

The new Seo Jun sorted through the memories he had absorbed one by one, piecing together his current circumstances.

“Big wars are going to break out soon.”

Not only had he arrived in the wrong dimension, but the timing was terrible too. The major events of the Three Kingdoms that Seo Jun remembered—the Disaster of the Ten Attendants, the Coalition Against Dong Zhuo, the Massacre of Xu Province, the Battle of Guandu—were all still to come.

On top of that, the person whose body he now shared came from one of the most remote regions in the entire Han Empire. During this time when Emperor Ling and the Ten Attendants openly sold government offices, even though anyone with money could become an official, no one wanted to take posts as governors or magistrates in such a forsaken place. The central government had practically given up on it.

Only a single governor with some sense of duty had volunteered to be stationed at the commandery seat in Shuofang County, Bingzhou. The few other small villages that passed for counties were barely under Han influence, managed by local elites and a handful of nominal officials.

“The original body is from Yang County in Hedong Commandery. A man named Dan Hui, who was appointed as the Administrator of Shuofang, asked my father to accompany him on his post. That’s how we ended up here two years ago.”

“Right now, my father and my youngest uncle are serving as Dunjang under the Shuofang army. They’ve been patrolling the surrounding counties with their men, so they haven’t come home in nearly a month.”

Seo Jun carefully organized the newly absorbed memories, gradually understanding the situation he had been thrust into.

“Status Window!”

Seo Jun stared intently at the status window that had changed to match this Three Kingdoms world.

“Looking at the status window, I really feel like I’ve become a character from a Three Kingdoms game. Haa~”

A sigh escaped him involuntarily. Before he had become a space mercenary, he recalled the old computer game he had enjoyed playing more than two hundred years ago. The memories were hazy, but they still brought a nostalgic ache.

His head spun.

“The memories are all jumbled together. The headache is getting worse, and I feel really dizzy.”

“I should get some sleep first and sort things out later.”

Seo Jun shook his head lightly as the headache grew more intense. The increasing pressure and fog in his mind became too much to bear. He lay down on the floor and pulled the blanket over himself.

The next day, early dawn.

Whooo~

When Seo Jun, now awake, opened the door, the cold early winter wind brushed across his face.

Sssip~!

He took a deep breath of the morning air. The chaotic memories that had tormented him all night finally seemed to settle into proper order.

Fully awake now, Seo Jun got dressed and stepped out into the courtyard.

Though he hadn’t asked for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it, this was the new world he would have to live in. The first things that caught his eye were two old, worn-looking wooden houses. This was where Seo Jun and his family lived.

One slightly larger house with two rooms—where his father, stepmother, and two half-siblings stayed. And the smaller house he had just come out of, which had a storage shed attached to one side.

In his newly absorbed memories, Seo Jun’s family had once been quite prestigious, with a long history, skill, and tradition. But now they were nothing more than a humble military clan that barely produced low-ranking officers like Dunjang or Junhou.

In this era, families without money, without connections, and without sharp instincts simply drifted along the bottom and eventually vanished without a trace.

The shabby storage shed held military manuals and strategy books made of bamboo and wooden slips, passed down through generations since the family’s greater days. There were also old but well-maintained weapons and armor resting inside.

Seo Jun’s gaze slowly expanded beyond the house to the surroundings. A village of shabby homes shrouded in light mist. Beyond the village stood a low earthen wall and a single worn gate. The sight made him feel the reality of having arrived in the Three Kingdoms era even more acutely.

Huu~ Huu~

He took several deep breaths, as if in meditation. At last, Seo Jun felt his mind had become crystal clear and properly organized.

“Hmph! Just how many sins did I commit in my past life?!”

“What kind of fate is this? I crossed dimensions just to live comfortably, and yet… haa~”

“I came here to live an easy life! I have no interest in working my ass off to build a faction, recruit talents, manage internal affairs, and aim for the throne.”

Sitting on a bench in the corner of the courtyard, chin resting in his hand, Seo Jun crossed his legs and idly shook one foot as he muttered to himself.

“The best move would be to head to Jing Province or Yi Province early on and establish myself there.”

“But if I join someone too early without any reputation, I’ll end up rolling around at the very bottom like Zhao Yun or Yue Jin in the beginning.”

“First, I need to get an official post, build my fame, and earn money. It’d be nice to have some women too.”

Though many thoughts swirled through Seo Jun’s mind, the highest priorities that rose to the surface were money and women.

Having survived countless life-or-death battles as a space mercenary, Seo Jun had come to greatly enjoy sleeping with women. It was the only time he could feel warmth, comfort, and true rest amid the constant extreme tension of combat.

Even after merging with this new body, the original Seo Jun’s impressive manhood seemed to have combined with his own, leaving him with an equally formidable asset.

“Looks like I’ll have to go hunting starting today.”

By the pitiful standards of the declining Han dynasty, his family’s current financial situation was decent compared to commoners or slaves. But by the new Seo Jun’s standards, it was flashing bright red warning lights.

One wrong move and we’ll be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠starving!

I really hate an incompetent head of household who doesn’t take care of his family.

A faint memory from his childhood, when he had practically been an orphan, surfaced. It made him feel unreasonably irritated toward his new body’s father, Seo Jeong—someone he had never even met.

A stubborn man who only cared about his own pride and reputation, yet was completely indifferent and useless when it came to actually supporting the family he was responsible for.

Seo Jun’s father, Seo Jeong, worked as a Dunjang at the Shuofang Governor’s office. His official salary was supposed to be one hundred stones of grain per year—roughly eight stones per month. However, because Shuofang County collected so little tax and received almost no support from the central government, the actual amount Seo Jeong received was at best three or four stones a month. And there were many months ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when he received nothing at all.